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When a major geologic event occurs, scientists who study such events and the people who are directly or indirectly impacted by it seek to understand its cause. Often, a first step toward that understanding is to rule out what did not cause the event.

The end of Kīlauea's 2018 eruption this past September was accompanied by an enormous decrease in the amount of sulfur dioxide gas (SO2) emitted from the volcano. This has led to beautifully clear skies gracing the Island of Hawai‘i, particularly noticeable on the west side, where the volcanic pollution known as vog chronically collected in past years.

A good field geologist is an opportunist. Never content with what outcrops are available, she jumps at the chance to see another one, hoping that it will provide a better understanding to some question about what happened in the past.

The 2018 Kīlauea Volcano lower East Rift Zone eruption was the first time Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) were used by the Federal Government to assist with an eruption response in the U.S. The UAS (drones) surveyed areas that were too hazardous for field crews or manned aircraft to access, collected multiple types of data, and provided 24/7 real-time situational awareness.

In February 1924, the surface of the lava lake at Halema‘uma‘u dropped rapidly and disappeared from view. Throughout March and April, the crater floor subsided as magma moved out of the summit reservoir into the East Rift Zone. By May 6, 1924, the floor of Halema‘uma‘u had dropped more than 180 m (about 600 ft) below the crater rim.

Early Wednesday morning, just before 1AM on March 13, houses in east Hawai`i began to shake. Without a doubt, it was an earthquake. To those who endured the near-daily shaking from last summer’s collapse events at Kīlauea’s summit, this week’s earthquake was clearly different.